Shot concurrently with TIANANMEN in the late 1980s, and viewed as its “sister series”, NOTES FROM BEIJING presents a more personal view on the Imperial Capital and its sprawling 20th century history. Born and raised in Beijing, Wang Zijun combines first-person narrative with archival footage and verité vignettes to give the film a diaristic voice, establishing it as the accrued mental notes of an “Old Beijinger”: a freewheeling collection of assorted wisdoms, anecdotes, and impressions on its author’s hometown.